


Ghosts of Christmas Present

by jujitsuelf



Category: The Losers (2010), The Losers - All Media Types
Genre: Best Buy Store AU, Gift Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-05 23:17:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1099719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jujitsuelf/pseuds/jujitsuelf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jake rested his elbows on the counter and rubbed at his forehead. The Christmas rush was officially killing him</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghosts of Christmas Present

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Saral_Hylor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saral_Hylor/gifts).



> Christmas 2013 gift fic for the wonderful saral_hylor. I've said it before but it bears saying again, love you and thanks for being an awesome friend.
> 
> And I hope you like this story! You know I'm incapable of writing anything other than AUs, so it's hardly surprising that's what this turned out to be, is it? Anyway, enjoy. I hope!
> 
> ****
> 
> Disclaimer – All publicly recognizable characters, settings etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended
> 
> ****
> 
> Thank you to 3white_mage3 and peaceful_sands for the readthroughs

Jake rested his elbows on the counter and rubbed at his forehead. The Christmas rush was officially killing him. Customers had been demanding his attention since they opened that morning and there was no sign of it letting up any time soon. Max, the manager, was being stingy with the budget and fewer Christmas temps than normal had been hired. Jake hadn’t managed to snag one.

He caught sight of Roque, the big guy from Household Appliances, being harangued by a tiny woman in a violently red coat. He had the look of a man about an inch from homicide. He hadn’t gotten a temp either.

It took a while but Jake finally managed to attract Clay, the current assistant manager’s, attention.

“Any chance somebody can cover while I go grab something to eat?”

Clay was a good guy, a little gruff and very much an old soldier type who made Jake feel that he should make an effort to stand up straight and bark ‘sir, yes, sir’, when he asked him to do things. Right now Clay looked harassed but nodded.

“Yeah, fine, go but don’t take forever about it. I’ll cover here, can’t spare anybody else.”

“You’re a gentleman and a scholar, Clay,” Jake grinned as he grabbed his wallet.

Clay snorted. “I’m neither and I’ll screw up your sales figures while you’re gone, so be quick.”

“Can I get a temp over here? Please?” Jake thought about using the puppy dog eyes, then remembered Clay was inhuman and wasn’t affected by them.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Clay rumbled, already moving toward a customer staring blankly at the portable hard drives. “Now get going so you can come back.”

***

Without any real input from him, Jake’s feet took him to the sandwich stand near the mall entrance. Pooch, the guy who always seemed to be working there, grinned at him.

“Hey, Jay, the usual?”

Jake wasn’t entirely certain what ‘the usual’ was, but nodded anyway. It was food and at that moment his blood sugar was low enough to welcome the idea of eating snails.

Pooch whistled cheerily between his teeth as he swiftly constructed a sandwich. Jingle Bells, Jake realised. As though the Christmas music playing through the mall speakers from dawn till dusk wasn’t reminder enough of the time of year.

“Here you go.” Pooch slid the wrapped sandwich over the counter toward him.

By now slightly curious as to what he ordered often enough to have Pooch remember it, Jake paid for his lunch and retreated to a nearby bench.

As it turned out, apparently he had a weakness for turkey subs with extra salad and lots of mayo. How often did he eat just for the sake of eating, his mind miles away on some other subject? For once, Jake made an effort to pay attention to his food and found to his surprise that he actually really enjoyed it. Somewhere in the middle his thoughts did wander to the dismantled Xbox waiting for him at home, but he dragged them back to the mall again.

Balling up his trash and lobbing it into a nearby bin, Jake stood, stretched and returned to Pooch’s stall.

“That was one hell of a sandwich, thanks.”

Pooch grinned. “My pleasure. Just doin’ my job. You working through Christmas?”

Jake nodded, it wasn’t as though he had any family to worry about. Maybe his sister might call on Christmas Day but that would probably be the extent of their interaction. It took him a moment to realise that the lack of festivities in his life didn’t really bother him. Christmas was just another day, after all. One for the kids and he didn’t have any, so what was the point in getting all angsty over it?

“Me, too,” Pooch was saying, Jake did his best to pay attention. “Need to save up as much cash as I can so I can get Jolene something nice.”  
  
Jake smiled to cover the fact he had no idea who Jolene was. Did he come out and chat with Pooch often enough for him to be expected to know about the people in Pooch’s life? Shit, he was really bad at this social interaction thing.

“Well, I should get back, see what disasters have befallen my section while I’ve been gone.”

Pooch laughed. “You should try a less stressful job. Look at me, do I seem stressed?”

“You seem like a man inordinately happy to be surrounded by bread and lettuce all day long,” Jake replied, dead-pan. “I’ll stick to computers, thanks, I have a morbid fear of olives.”

Pooch’s laugh grew louder, making shoppers intent on crossing things off their to-buy lists turn and stare at him. “You’re funny. Nuts but funny. Have a good day, bro.”

Bumping his fist against the one Pooch held out to him, Jake made his way back to the store. A strange little warm glow seemed to have made its way into his chest. Did he have a friend? That was new.

***

When he arrived at work the next day, Jake wasn’t entirely awake as he dragged himself toward his corner of the store. Damn online gaming.

It took him a moment to realize there was already someone in a Best Buy shirt hovering near the Tech helpdesk. Blinking the sleep from his eyes and cleaning his glasses because they really were filthy, Jake took another look. And then another.

Whoever the guy was, he was pretty freakin’ gorgeous. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on him, which instantly made Jake regret the McDonalds run he’d had to make in order to locate breakfast. The Best Buy shirt was too big for him and hung off his slim frame but the jeans beneath it were tight and hip-hugging in the very best way.

Just for a moment, Jake let his eyes rest on the guy’s long legs. He was wearing cowboy boots. That was different, most people in the store opted for Converse. It was entirely self-indulgent, but taking a good long look at the guy was waking Jake up more effectively than any coffee had so far managed. He had long black hair tied back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck and a neatly trimmed moustache and beard. Jake fingered his own scruffy goatee and wondered whether he should give up and shave it off.

A pair of shrewd dark eyes suddenly zeroed in on Jake. The man made no effort to speak first, merely looking Jake up and down in a way which made Jake bite the inside of his mouth and pray he didn’t pop an inappropriate boner. It had been a while since a guy had made him think of going to bed and staying there for a month but Tall, Dark and Very Handsome was, at least by Best Buy standards, the embodiment of all that was sexy in the world.

“Jake Jensen?” the guy asked, a slight Spanish accent making him mangle the J.

Jake nodded, his mouth too dry to form words. Jesus, if the newbie could make someone’s name sound hot, what would it be like to hear him talk dirty? He had to take his glasses off again and rub his eyes, mental images which were entirely work-inappropriate were fogging up his brain and making his IQ drop by the second.

“Um, yeah, that’s me.”

“I’m your Christmas temp.”

Brilliant. At least now he’d have something good to look at while having his head smashed in by unending festive music and rabid shoppers.

“Awesome,” he said out loud, replacing his glasses. “You got a name?”

“Cougar.”

“Seriously?”

Cougar looked at him. Jake flushed.

“Okay, Cougar it is, cool name.”

Cougar blinked slowly. Jake began to revise his estimate as to how much easier this new development was going to make his work life.

“Uh, you worked a tech section before?”

Cougar shook his head.

“But you know the difference between a Windows 8 PC and a Mac, right? And you’d never choose an AMD processor over something like an i5, would you? If someone wanted a laptop just for gaming, you wouldn’t try to get away with selling them something unsuitable just because we’re on commission, right?”

Cougar tilted his head to one side and said slowly, “Know the difference. i5 is better. I don’t shirk my job.”

Jake stared. Wow. Tall, good looks and a man of few words. He’d heard of people saying they could actually feel themselves fall for someone but never believed it until now. The swooping sensation in his stomach robbed him of speech, he realized he was looking at Cougar open-mouthed.

“Yes, yeah, that’s cool. Um, you already stashed your stuff? God, that makes you sound like a drug dealer. I mean, your coat and bag and whatever, Clay or somebody showed you where to put it?”

A tiny smile appeared on Cougar’s face as he nodded. His cheeks heating up, Jake returned it.

“Okay, we open soon, so if you wanted to stick close and listen for a while, that’s fine. Or if you feel like you know what you’re doing, more power to you, go forth and sell shit.”

“I’ll listen,” Cougar replied carefully. “’Least for a while. You do this everyday, after all.”

A big, goofy grin blossomed on Jake’s face. Yes, he did do this everyday and now, so did Cougar. Handsome, hot, lean, Latino Cougar. Life had gotten better all in a rush.

***

It was really kind of incredible, Jake leaned against the Tech helpdesk and watched Cougar practically seduce a grey-haired woman into buying a top of the range laptop for her son’s Christmas present.

He’d only been at the store a week and he was vying with Roque for the top seller spot. Damn it, he’d sold more than Jake, even when Jake broke out the big guns and used the super shiny smile which always got him freebies from easily distracted store assistants in clothes retailers. It was like shoppers couldn’t resist the lure of Cougar’s slight accent and his chocolate eyes and the serious expression which hinted at complete fixation with making that particular shopper happy at all costs.

When Cougar made a sale, he’d taken to giving Jake a little triumphant smile. Just a twitch of the lips but it was making Jake very aware of how tight his jeans were. He made a mental note to replace every pair in his wardrobe with baggy ones which would hide the fact those smiles had such an effect on him.

It was stupid to get obsessed with a co-worker, and a temporary co-worker at that, but unfortunately there didn’t appear to be much Jake could do about it. Every time he got one of those little smiles, he felt himself slide deeper into lust with Cougar. He was steadfastly refusing to call it love, because that was just ridiculous, he’d only known the guy a week.

***

Roque threw a flyer at Jake’s face as he walked past the Tech desk. “Party.”

Jake caught the paper just before it wrapped itself around his head and sighed. Roque was also a man of few words but instead of Cougar’s ‘smouldering lover’ aura, he projected an air of ‘piss me off and I’ll kill you’, which probably accounted for his high sales. People were too scared to say no.

Reading the flyer, Jake grinned. Christmas might be a bust but at least it meant they got to party and watch Clay get drunk and attempt to seduce anything even vaguely female. He turned and found Cougar peering over his shoulder to see what he was looking at.

“Christmas party,” Jake waggled his eyebrows in what he hoped was an amusing manner. “Always good value in the entertainment stakes. People seem to forget they still have to work together the day after and some of the couples I’ve walked in on, you would not believe.”

“Don’t do parties,” Cougar frowned slightly.

“What?” To be honest, Jake had been seriously looking forward to watching Cougar get drunk, then maybe a quick fumble under the mistletoe might not be completely out of the question.

If Cougar swung that way, of course. So far Jake hadn’t been able to find out anything about him, apart from the fact he was from New Mexico, still had Spanish as his first language and was very attached to his worn cowboy hat. It was probably hoping for far too much for him to be both gay and attracted to Jake in return. Happy endings didn’t occur in real life, Jake was old enough to know that.

“Never?” he asked, using his best hopeful face. “Not even at Christmas?”

Cougar shrugged.

“It’ll be fun, I promise,” Jake prompted. “Somebody always spikes the punch so it’s best to bring your own bottle, but the people watching alone is worth it. Just don’t let Melissa from Cameras get you under the mistletoe. She gets very handsy.”

Cougar nodded seriously, his eyes on Jake’s. “Anyone else I should watch out for?”

Jake ran a finger around the collar of his shirt, had it been so warm in the store a moment ago?

“Um, Danny from Corporate sometimes shows up, he’s an asshole who thinks he’s better than the rest of us but he’s got a real roving eye for the girls. Best to make sure he doesn’t get anyone into a closet. Clay will sleep with anything female and breathing and Roque will go around looking like he wants to kill someone. I don’t know what’s going on with those two but I wish they’d just get a hotel room and sort it out. If anyone could make fuck buddies work, it’d be them.”

A smile flirted with Cougar’s lips for a moment, then vanished. “I’m only a temp, shouldn’t come to the Christmas party.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Jake held out both hands, trying desperately not to appear desperate. “You work here, it’s Christmas, ergo you’re allowed to come and watch your colleagues do incredibly stupid things in the name of being festive.”

Cougar looked doubtful but said, “Okay, if you’re sure.”

“I am extremely sure,” Jake replied, a smile on his face and relief in his heart.

***

As with most work Christmas parties, the Best Buy one was used as a blatant excuse to get wickedly drunk and make out with colleagues, whether lust for them had occurred during the year or not.

Jake stood with his back to the wall, a drink in his hand and his eyes firmly on the half-closed main doors. Cougar had said he needed to go get something when regular work finished and so far hadn’t returned. Had he decided against staying after all? Jake’s heart sank a little. Damn.

Melissa from Cameras smiled brightly at him as she bounced past, a bottle of vodka in each hand and a trail of drooling men behind her. Jake saluted her with his glass and hoped she didn’t attempt to ‘kiss him into being straight’ again this year.

A headache was threatening to burst into life behind Jake’s eyes. He took his glasses off and wearily rubbed them one-handed. If Cougar had made a run for it, should he just go home?

An elbow jostled him, making him curse as he nearly dropped his drink. Turning to berate the person, Jake lost his angry words and beamed goofily instead.

Cougar almost smiled back, the corners of his mouth turned up, it had to be a smile.

“Sorry I took so long.”

“No problem.” Jake was painfully aware of just how close Cougar was. Their thighs were almost touching and heat radiated out from the other man, seeping through Jake’s jeans and making him wonder if the rest of Cougar was as warm.

“Bought something,” Cougar said, fishing in the plastic bag in his hand.

Jake swallowed and tried to focus on Cougar’s purchase rather than just on Cougar. His mouth fell open when a sprig of white-berried mistletoe appeared out of the bag.

Two spots of pink appeared high on Cougar’s cheeks as he held the little sprig up between them. “Figured it was better to not have to share with everyone else. One kiss per berry, right? This way we’d, er, get more.”

His voice trailed off toward the end, as though he’d run out of courage to keep speaking.

For a moment Jake stared in amazed surprise, unable to think of a single thing to say or do. Cougar was coming on to him. Holy God.

Cougar’s face fell slightly and he made to stuff the mistletoe back into the bag, obviously thinking Jake was either horrified or angry.

Reaching out quickly, Jake grabbed Cougar’s wrist and tugged the sprig back up into the air between them.

“No, don’t...you surprised me. I don’t react all that fast sometimes. When I was ten my mom bought me a puppy and it took me half an hour to realise there was something small and furry licking my face. ‘Course that was the summer mom left and everything went to shit, but still, the dog was nice. Not that you or your mistletoe are in any way like a puppy. You’re more a big cat kind of guy, even without the name. You’re kinda dangerous and slinky and probably less inclined to roll over and ask me to tickle your belly. Unless of course you do like that kind of thing which would be not at all unpleasant. Sorry, I’m rambling. Yes, more kisses, very good. Excellent plan, I wholeheartedly endorse it.”

A tentative smile slid back onto Cougar’s lean face. “Rambling’s okay. I like listening. You had me worried. Thought you were gonna get all heterosexual and outraged on me.”

Jake laughed and twisted a hand in Cougar’s shirt to pull him closer. Their lips were brushing as he said, “Heterosexual? Me? Never.”

Cougar chuckled into his mouth and Jake forgot all about the rest of the party. The world could look after itself for a while, right now they had about a dozen berries to make the most of.


End file.
